Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

[64osby]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

Indy, I would look at finding the stringers first. The height of that will determine where the floor meets the hull side wall and the ribs. Here is one with a single stringer, it also appears to get taller as it gets closer to the bow. There are many projects with 2 stingers that appear to be a constant height.

From all the projects I've seen on Starcraft floors the edge of the wood is supported by the ribs and the hull. Not an added side brace.

The wood attaches to the stringers and is loose at the outer edge. That is how my floor is and it is the original floor.

Finding a couple pieces of 2 or 3" high C or Z, maybe even square tube that is cut to allow riveting to the ribs. The floor has cutouts for the ribs to allow the wood to seat closer to the hull. Shown in the bow here.

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There are many ways to complete this, how you do it is your choice. I think copying the originals would be an easy road. My .02

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

From all the projects I've seen on Starcraft floors the edge of the wood is supported by the ribs and the hull. Not an added side brace.

The wood attaches to the stringers and is loose at the outer edge. That is how my floor is and it is the original floor.

Actually, the decking in the vast majority of Starcrafts is supported by the urethane floatation foam... in both the single and double stringer styles. Like this:

This system is prevalent in the 1972 and later boats. It's not a system I'm particularly fond of because it traps water below deck in the 2 stringer types and traps water and impedes drainage in the 1 stringer types. This system is notorious for rotting the plywood decking because of the trapped water and the underside of the plywood staying in contact with the foam and moisture.

When the foam is removed from this design a thicker 3/4" decking is required because 1/2" will be "springy/bouncy" without the foam supporting it.

IMO, there's no suitable substitute for a properly framed deck that will give you decades of care-free boating without worries of deck rot.

 

[64osby]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

Jig, I think the pour in foam became a standard in construction in '78 79' time frame for Starcraft.

Indy , I think WOG said it "follow the map". There are tons of renovations in the Starcraft forum. Take a look at the builds and see what has worked for others.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

Jig, I think the pour in foam became a standard in construction in '78 79' time frame for Starcraft.

I found this on that:

http://forums.iboats.com/boat-topic...become-mandatory-production-boats-285043.html

 

[64osby]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

Jig, Not debating the 1972 rule, the Pour in foam became a standard for Starcraft's in the late 80's. Yes the earlier boats had foam, white Styrofoam sheets, like what is in my 1973 Mariner.

Your post #42 and pic make it sound like all boats have pour in foam from 1972 and on. Also the stringers in my boat support the plywood not the foam.

Not trying to :fencing: Just trying to keep the facts straight and let Indy see the construction of older Starcrafts. The only other issue I see with his build is eliminated the seats, which did provide some form of structural support for the side walls of the boat.

 

[IndyFish]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

yeah, mine has no "poured in foam" at all under the floor. There was a massive piece under the covered part in from (maybe 1.5' thick and 2' long!) and also blocks of foam under the bench seats. I was thinking of either using the foam pool noodles (kinda cheesy but cheap) or do the pink or blue sheets of foam under the decking. I was told that a pool noodle supports 100 lbs, so 10 of them would be crazy over kill to stuff in the gunwale rails and under the floor etc.

 

[IndyFish]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

Jig, Not debating the 1972 rule, the Pour in foam became a standard for Starcraft's in the late 80's. Yes the earlier boats had foam, white Styrofoam sheets, like what is in my 1973 Mariner.

Your post #42 and pic make it sound like all boats have pour in foam from 1972 and on. Also the stringers in my boat support the plywood not the foam.

Not trying to :fencing: Just trying to keep the facts straight and let Indy see the construction of older Starcrafts. The only other issue I see with his build is eliminated the seats, which did provide some form of structural support for the side walls of the boat.

yes sir they did! i can now flex the boat more now if I sit in and press hard. I've had a couple row boats, and it still flexes less than them. But, I'm hoping the floor will help out with that a little (if i use the side braces to attatch the stringers too). There are also plans to put a livewell across in the middle somewhere that will help out as well, and i'm not across having a safe long lasting boat as apposed to a nicer clean looking one. I'm actually going to leave the brackets for the bench seats right now because they are slightly above where the floor is going to sit, and if I need to i will re integrate something using a board across them again if I feel I need the support!

 

[IndyFish]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

thanks for the awesome pics 64osby! I'm worried because of how the boat will sit in the water that if i don't make the stringers higher in the front than the back, the floor is going to be sloped! (the front of the boat is going to sink further below the water line because it's deeper and v'eed) Do you feel that your floor as more "level" when at rest? or would it make a big difference to just run same height ones front to back? If i go the route that yours looks like, I will probably just make that center run out of two angles and tie's between them to get my height in the front, tapered to the back.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

Jig, I think the pour in foam became a standard in construction in '78 79' time frame for Starcraft.

My '76 was still white sheet foam.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

I was thinking of either using the foam pool noodles (kinda cheesy but cheap) or do the pink or blue sheets of foam under the decking. I was told that a pool noodle supports 100 lbs, so 10 of them would be crazy over kill to stuff in the gunwale rails and under the floor etc.

Pool noodles are actually the most expensive type of floatation, and 1 pool noodle doesn't 100 lbs. of dead weight... it supports 100 lobs of buoyant human body weight. A pool noodle only floats about 2.16 lbs. per ft.... you can read about it here:
http://forums.iboats.com/boat-restoration-building-hull-repair/truth-about-noodles-387186.html

The pink or blue rigid sheet foam insulation is actually the best bang for the buck on floatation. Sheet foam floats 60 lbs per cubic ft. and a 4x8' sheet of 2" thick foam will float 320 lbs. at 5.33 cubic of floatation for $35:
Foamular F-150 2 in. x 48 in. x 8 ft. Scored Squared Edge Foam-45W at The Home Depot

It takes about 40 4' long noodles to float 320 lbs. You'll have to catch the noodles on sale to get them for $2 each... 40x$2=$80.

Plus! When you pile 40 4' long noodles up, it takse up much more space than the 4x8x2" sheet of foam.

Soooo... noodles aint all they're cracked up to be.

 

[IndyFish]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

I hate when you put a days work in and feel like you've got no where! Power washed the **** out of her, knocked any loose paint off the inside with a wire wheel., then vacuumed and washed agaaaaain.


Any coments on repainting the bottom before I start putting the decking in this week? or hitting the seams and rivets with gluvit or equivilent? (i'd have to go find some) It actually has some sort of textured coating in the bottom already (pretty old though). I just knocked whatever what loose off, but went over the whole thing with the wire wheel (brass), but whatever is still on there will still be on there for another 50 years!

 

[IndyFish]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

wow, didn't think about it that way! makes sense! so if i'm drowning.... run to hd and get me some foam sheets! :facepalm:

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

Brass aint good for aluminum, just regular carbon steel is better... stainless is best. Anything with copper in it is bad for aluminum.

No real reason to paint the below deck, but you could shoot it with some rustoleum aluminum primer if you want, it's nice and white and would look nice and clean.

 

[IndyFish]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

^^^^ correction! deck framing. got a long looong ways and many beers before her deck goes in. Found another lead on 1/16 angle for going around the edges (i like that idea better than just going strait to the ribs). Should be able to start framing tomorrow, if its not too cold. And of course the stores not out of beer.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

wow, didn't think about it that way! makes sense! so if i'm drowning.... run to hd and get me some foam sheets! :facepalm:

Or if you don't want your boat and all the hard work you've done to sink to the bottom of the lake, you'll find some place to put about 3 sheets of that foam.

 

[64osby]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

Indy, That wasn't my boat in the pics. Just showing an example of floor construction.

The Starcraft restoration thread has tons of boat links showing the different types of floor construction. There are many Jets and other smaller Tinny's complete or under dry dock that might help your vision of floor support and foam installation.

Link - http://forums.iboats.com/starcraft-boats/starcraft-rebuilds-restorations-theyre-all-here-494143.html

I also think that your thoughts of the boat sitting bow down are unwarranted. Motor, fuel, battery(?), and the Capt' will all be back there.

If you have a really really Big fishing buddy well all bets are off.

 

[IndyFish]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

Or if you don't want your boat and all the hard work you've done to sink to the bottom of the lake, you'll find some place to put about 3 sheets of that foam.

Obviously i'm going to use the sheet foam. I was joking
That I'm heavier than the rating for pool noodles!

 

[IndyFish]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

Indy, That wasn't my boat in the pics. Just showing an example of floor construction.

The Starcraft restoration thread has tons of boat links showing the different types of floor construction. There are many Jets and other smaller Tinny's complete or under dry dock that might help your vision of floor support and foam installation.

Link - http://forums.iboats.com/starcraft-boats/starcraft-rebuilds-restorations-theyre-all-here-494143.html

I also think that your thoughts of the boat sitting bow down are unwarranted. Motor, fuel, battery(?), and the Capt' will all be back there.

If you have a really really Big fishing buddy well all bets are off.

I've been searching around the page like crazy whenever I have free time for the past couple days to try and find examples of factory bracing. The problem is they changed the rib design in 1960, with less verticle ribs, and more horizontal as it meets the hull. (from the pics I've found) Some of them have a tapered floor from front to back, and others don't. Even found two same year that had differences.....After looking around a bunch, and taking in the recommendations you all have given me, I'm going to run the floor at one height from front to back, about 6'' up. Right now I'm just going to put in the aluminum angle framing, (and deck boards when it gets warmer out) and will deal with the layup of the rest later. I feel that going anything above 6'' up will make it unstable, so i might as well start there and see where it takes me!

Thanks for all the help, framing starts tonight! I'll post pics as I go!

 

[IndyFish]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

Also, I really like jigs framing plans, but I think I'm going to just run one down the center instead of two. Did some research on how much force aluminum angle can take, and the 26'' span from the side to the middle shouldnt be in jepardy of being too weak. Especially because I'm making what i've already got work. If it is to flexible, and i'm wrong, i can always just string it to the ribs after the fact on the longer side runs. And like stated before somewhere up there ^^^ these boats didnt come with braces down the sides for the deck to rest on, they just rested on the ribs and center beam with no cross supports whatsoever. I think i'll be fine!

 

[64osby]

Re: Starting my 59' Starcraft flooring project!

Indy, Sounds like you have a plan.

If you're going to end up with a plywood seam you might consider putting a 2" wide cross support under it for attachment and support of the two pieces.